1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, a job processing method, a storage medium, and a printing apparatus, which enable a post-processing unit connected to a printing unit to execute only post processing without requiring printing by the printing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a POD (Print On Demand) printing system using an electrophotographic printing apparatus or an inkjet printing apparatus has been proposed so as to outdo the conventional printing industry (see e.g. US Published Application No. 20040190057). The POD printing system of this type makes it possible to dispense with an operation for preparing a final copy for printing and other complicated operations.
However, there is still a lot to be studied before such a POD printing system is made commercially available i.e. put into practical use. For example, the conventional printing systems are not configured such that post processing by an inline finisher connected to a printer (i.e. a finisher having a sheet path connected to the printer) can be used without requiring printing by the printer.
From the above viewpoint, a technique should be proposed while considering beforehand a possibility that it will be demanded in the future to use only post processing by a post-processing unit connected to a printing unit without requiring printing by the printing unit. However, since such a demand is not strong in actuality, no effective proposal has ever been seen.